News from the HIV Capacity Building Partners Summit in Nairobi, Kenya

Sub Saharan Africa still remains the unenviable epicenter of the global HIV and AIDS epidemic. Over the years, the region has witnessed intensified emergency efforts to expand access to HIV treatment, prevention, care and support. These efforts now call for renewed commitment to strengthen the requisite organizational capacity to plan, implement and sustain effective interventions.

This week, 225 government, donor, academic, civil society representatives, and People Living with HIV/AIDS, coming from 22 countries in Eastern, Central, and Southern Africa, are meeting in Nairobi to take stock of progress, achievements and lessons in HIV capacity building, share best practices and innovations, and also plan for future efforts to strengthen the organizational capacity of local implementers.

As the country with the second highest maternal mortality rate in the world, outranked only by India, Nigeria loses one in every 18 women during child-birth. The country also has one of the highest infant mortality rates in the world, one of the lowest life expectancy rates---estimated at 47 years---and the second largest population of people living with HIV & AIDS, with only 30% of people eligible for anti-retroviral treatment able to access these life-saving drugs.